


Never Believe It’s Not So

by Starry_seblos



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Established Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez, Fluff, M/M, Magic, no one asked for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26183209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starry_seblos/pseuds/Starry_seblos
Summary: Seb Matthew-Smith can do magic, and he’s very bad at hiding it, not that he’s ever tried to. Luckily (or unluckily) for him, all of his friends are incredibly dense
Relationships: Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Never Believe It’s Not So

Seb Matthew-Smith is magic.

It's not a secret really, he's never made any effort to hide it, unfortunately, it seems that all his friends are either too dense or too self centred to notice.

The first people who should have noticed were really his older siblings, Georgia, Liam and Harry or maybe his mum. Seb had been 4 at the time, and up until that point was Sebastian. He returned from his first day of school simply insisting that he had to be called Seb. 

His family was widely accepting of any simple request such as this, but when they asked Seb why, they really should have got it.

Because Seb couldn't be Sebastian anymore, the lady said so. Names held power for people like him the lady in the tree had said. 

In his family's defence, Seb hadn't really gotten it then, and his mother and father had chalked Seb's constant insisting that the lady in the tree with the green skin and the purple hair had spoken to him down to childish imagination. But they agreed to call him Seb, so that was good enough for him. 

The second person who should have noticed was Natalie Bagley. 

It was freshman year, and Seb had long since gained a grip on his abilities (and still visited the dryad in the tree by his elementary school when he could). Natalie was his only real friend in freshman year and in March she was going through it.

It was her first real break up, from Greg Harris from their chemistry class. They had started dating in the summer and had been going strong for nearly six months, until Greg announced that he never really liked her that much anyways, that she wasn't pretty enough for him and had been cheating on her with Jasmine Robe from their geography class.

Natalie had been inconsolable, and the break up process from the movies of eating a lot of ice cream and watching romcoms didn't seem to be quite as effective as it seemed in the movies.

Natalie stayed over at Seb's farmhouse that night, staying in his room as his parents didn't seem too worried about his heartbroken best friend staying with him, she fell asleep halfway through High School Musical 2 still sniffling about how 'he was always too good looking for me anyway'. 

As Seb reached to turn off the TV just as Sharpay started plotting a way to stop her classmates from participating in the talent show when an idea formed in his own head.

Quietly checking that Natalie was definitely asleep he crept out of the room and out of the backdoor smiling slightly at the soft snoring from Chowsie, their sheep dog.

He moved silently through the garden to the big willow tree that stood not far from the hay barn and traced his familiar sigil against the hollow of the tree and watched in wonder as it opened up with a soft glow to allow him into the small room hidden within, no matter how many times he did it, the simple cloak reveal never got old.

He ignited the candles inside with a simple click of his fingers and set to work mixing up herbs.

The next day when Natalie approached him excitedly in the cafeteria in morning break to tell him that when she had seen Greg in art class he had been struck down with a terrible case of acne over night, he couldn't suppress his smile. It was a simple curse, not overly malicious but very effective. Maybe next time Greg would think twice about those conventional beauty standards he had been beholding everyone else to , because Jasmine had dropped the jock like a tonne of bricks, the girl was predictably shallow.

He almost choked on his disgusting cafeteria lunch when Natalie had added something about her weird dream where Seb walked inside a tree.

Third came Ricky Bowen.

It was sophomore year, on the run up to their production of High School Musical and this one was an accident really, and his most obvious use of magic up to then.

He hadn't meant to eavesdrop obviously, but he could be very quiet sometimes and people often forgot that he was sat at the piano silently observing observing drama of the day, so it wasn't really a shock when Ricky and Big Red has started talking in hushed tones without realising that he was a few feet to their left, especially considering it was Ricky and Big Red.

He quickly made himself busy, not wanting to intrude, but also not wanting to make things awkward by letting them know he was there.

However Seb did pick up that Ricky hadn't been sleeping lately, the arguments between his parents having seemingly triggered nightmares that he couldn't sleep through.

While Seb wasn't super close to Ricky, not wanting to make Nini (who he was getting much closer to) feel awkward, he couldn't help but feel bad for the guy, he was clearly going through a lot and Seb really did want to help.

He spent the rest of the day contemplating his options and if actually doing anything about what he'd overheard was too much considering his relationship (or lack thereof) with Ricky.

Carlos noticed his absent mindedness about halfway through engineering with Mr Mazzara (probably only taking so long because 'absent minded' tended to be Seb's resting expression in any of Mazzara's classes), catching Seb's eye by throwing an eraser at the blonde, Seb glanced backwards, frowning at his boyfriend before immediately smiling because that thought reminded him that Carlos is his boyfriend.

'You ok?' Carlos mouthed you him, clearly worried by Seb's silence through the class which he would usually be irritating Mazzara through by either excitedly discussing dance routines with Rico who he sat next to or humming a tune for Carlos to dance to.

Seb just smiled wider at the other boy and nodded, tapping out a rhythm with his pen to make his point, finally having decided what he was going to do.

As soon as he got home he dropped his bag in his room and ran out to the garden under the guise of visiting the cows, Chowsie hot on his heels, Seb heard the dogs confused whine as he disappeared into his magical hiding spot.

Quickly pulling together all the things he could need for this particular task he set to work weaving the intricate pattern across the ring of ash wood after heating the different coloured strings over burning sage. 

The dream catcher didn't take too long, he'd made a lot of them through the years for his siblings so he was well versed in the art of weaving the intricate patterns across the wooden ring, he made it back to the house before dinner. No one questioned his absence.

The next day he slipped the catcher into Rickys bag at the start of rehearsal with nothing for explanation but a yellow sticky note with a smiley face drawn in the sparkly pink gell pen Kourtney had given him weeks ago to annotate his script with, next to a little doodle of a cow he had scribbled absentmindedly durning his engineering class earlier.

Ricky never mentioned the gift to Seb aside from a small nod in thanks the following day (Seb could guess that the sparkly pink cow doodle had given him away) but not having overheard any confessions of nightmares in the following days, Seb could guess that the dream catcher had done its job.

Next were Ashlyn and EJ Caswell

EJs obliviousness was to be expected really, because Seb was fairly sure that EJ had never had a coherent thought that didn't involve himself in his life, it's harsh but true, Ashlyn however disappointed him slightly. For a girl with the twitter handle witchy_moon she was pretty oblivious to actual witchcraft apparently.

At this point his friends obtuseness was getting to be borderline insulting because the events that led up to the 4th near miss (a term Seb used lightly because he was not trying to keep any secret) was completely Ash's idea.

The Salt Lake Renaissance Fair has been set up for its monthly market and Ash had insisted that the theatre gang should go, she wasn't working any of the stalls or re-enactments this time so she could just enjoy the fair with her friends, the entire thing seemed to be fairly pointless to Seb, it seemed like a farmers market (which he was very familiar with) but with less necessary or useful items on sale. But Ash was excited and everyone else was going, so Seb ignored his apprehension and agreed to go, at least the costumes were cool.

A few hours in, Seb found himself wandering around a fairly deserted area of the market with Ash and EJ (who had been instructed to stick with his cousin by their parents who hadn't bothered to chaperone the teens trip).

Ash beckoned the two boys into a fairly creepy looking tent in the abandoned corner of the market and Seb followed her in, deciding to keep his thought about how this was absolutely how horror movies started and the fact that he's gay means statistically he was going to die first, because damn it if she wasn't his friend and maybe the burry your gays trope was tired enough to not affect him.

The tent, it turned out, was not home to an axe wielding manic or vengeful witch doctor ready to curse them, but tables adorned with crystals, candles and pouches of herbs. A magic shop.

Seb willed himself not to role his eyes, because the items on sale actually seemed legit, the crystals were good quality, the candles were made from the correct materials and herbs like sage that they had on sale actually did have magical properties. Not that that would matter to anyone buying them, a secret experiment he had had George unknowingly participate in years ago under the guise of a childish game told him that, magical objects made by non magical people didn't hold magical properties. (Well that experiment with George and the fact that non magical people had been trying to unlock the ability to perform magic for centuries with no luck, even when aided by willing witches)

Ash was busy explaining to EJ how ametrine was cleansing to the third eye (not entirely incorrect actually) when an elderly woman emerged from the back of the tent sporting countless crystal necklaces and strings of beads woven through her hair. Maybe this is becoming more scooby doo than saw Seb thought to himself half expecting the woman to start telling them of an ancient cure plaguing the fair that must be stopped.

There was a quality to the woman that was slightly unnerving to Seb, maybe it was the sheer number of crystals that the woman had on her person because surely that was heavy, or maybe it was the way she was staring at him.

The woman had some of the most intense eyes Seb had ever seen. It was difficult to pinpoint exactly what colour they were, it was somewhere on the borderline of green and yellow, but it wasn't the colour that made them so intense, Seb couldn't actually figure out what it was, but whatever he was seeing, apparently Ash and EJ weren't as Ashlyn immediately began asking the woman about different crystals and chakras or something, Seb had stopped paying attention to be honest.

The revelation hit him like a truck. Magic. That's what he was sensing, that's why Ash and EJ seemed completely unfazed by her. She was like him. Briefly Seb wondered if he gave off the same scarily intense vibes to her, or if you had to be older than 16 and be more intimidating than an emotional support hamster to attain that honour.

The woman didn’t seem to acknowledge that Ash was even talking, and instead kept her gaze trained solely on Seb who was getting slightly unnerved as Ash and EJ had apparently also noticed that the woman’s attention wasn’t with them and had also taken to staring at Seb as if he could explain why the woman was so interested in him.

Finally the woman seemed to snap out of her daze and smiled, her harsh look beginning to soften as she did so.

“My child, it had been a long time since one such as you has appeared to me” she said, her voice remarkably mundane compared to her over the top appearance.

Ash looked caught between asking what the woman was talking about and writing it off as the ramblings of a crazy woman who had been alone in her tent for too long. EJ seemed to be trying to check his hair in his reflection in a crystal.

The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a small object wrapped in brown paper tied with a string and placed it in Seb’s hand. Having finally remembered how to talk in the presence of the first other magical person he ever met Seb opened his mouth to thank the woman or ask her what the gift was, he wasn’t quite sure yet.

“You must not ask of its origin, I myself do not know. But it is yours now, until you can hand it down to someone you find to be worthy, child”

Seb was at a loss for words, luckily for him, EJ was not. “How do you know that Seb is worthy?”

The woman simply smiled and nodded at Seb, almost as if she thought she was delivering him a message that he certainly wasn’t receiving, and pushed Seb’s hand holding the package closer to his chest. All will become clear, Seb.

The woman didn’t speak, Seb knew that, her mouth hadn’t moved yet he heard her, part of him wished the woman would explain what was going on to him, but something told him that simply telling him what she meant would be going against the witchy mystery she had surrounded herself with.

The woman took one last glance at the cousins stood in the far end of the small tent before turning and disappearing back to wherever she had come from behind the tent.

The three of them were silent for a moment before EJ, in true EJ fashion broke the tension “I guess that means she’s closed” he stated before heading back to the tents entrance, closely followed by Ashlyn and Seb.

“Do you think she was a real witch?” Ashlyn asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.

“I doubt it, there are hardly any left, I doubt one of them would choose to spend her time selling crystals at a renaissance fair, besides, wouldn’t she have given whatever that was to another witch and not Seb?” EJ answered

Ash frowned “yeah I guess you’re right”

Seb decided to stay quiet.

The fifth time was the most incredulous. Because fifth came Carlos Rodriguez, his own boyfriend.

It was no secret that Carlos wasn’t always the brightest bulb, choosing to spend most of his maths classes dancing rather than paying attention to his education, but considering his own GPA, Seb was hardly one to cast judgement.

What both shocked and amused Seb were the little things that Carlos would miss when they hung out. Because Carlos never seemed to notice that when they marathoned the high school musical movies, they never ran out of popcorn, he never seemed to realise that despite being curled up in a blanket together for over four and a half hours, they never got too hot, they never got dead legs or needed a bathroom break.

Perhaps that was a good thing as at the end of the day it was Seb’s goal for Carlos to not be thinking about those small things when they had dates, but he had expected at least a commentary from his boyfriend about how long they had made the popcorn last. 

If Carlos ever did notice anything odd about how smoothly their dates always went, he certainly never mentioned it, Seb figured (hoped) that Carlos just put it down to the fact that they were made for each other.

The most gratuitous display of magic on Seb’s part and blind obtuseness from Carlos came during winter break. 

Carlos has invited Seb over to his to watch Beauty and the Beast together in preparation for the spring musical (although Seb didn’t officially know what the spring musical was going to be) as Carlos’ mum and sisters were out for the day.

The two of them were curled up on Carlos’ sofa under a thick patchwork blanket, Seb was caught between the sofa arm and his boyfriend who had his arms slung around Seb’s waist and his head resting on Seb’s shoulder. Seb had gotten distracted by the warmth coming from Carlos and the gentle sound of the rain against the window and the bowl of popcorn stood on the coffee table had gotten empty right around Something There.

Carlos noticed the lack of popcorn before Seb and frowned “were out of popcorn, one of us needs to get up” he said reaching down to the coffee table and picking up the empty bowl.

Seb took the bowl from his boyfriend, and thanking god that the incantation didn’t require any additional supplies (because he was comfortable and warm and he really didn’t want to get up or have Carlos get up and loose his source of warmth).

Seb handed back the full bowl, “no we’re not” 

Carlos simply frowned at the popcorn in the bowl as if it had lied to him, before shrugging slightly and beginning to eat. “Maybe I should put my glasses on?” he wondered aloud before placing the bowl back on the table in front of him and once again resting his head on Seb’s shoulder, humming along to the sound of Belles quiet singing, the sound having been turned down a while ago on account of the two of them being more than willing to fall asleep to the movie.

Seb just smiled, deciding that he was too tired to be mystified by how oblivious his boyfriend and friends always managed to be. He rested his head a top his boyfriends and allowed the closing notes of the song paired with the gentle pitter patter of the rain outside to lull him to sleep. He was sure they would figure it out eventually, after all, it’s not like it was a secret.

**Author's Note:**

> Did anyone ask of this? No  
> Did anyone want this? No  
> Do I know why I wrote this? No  
> But here it is


End file.
